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COUNCIL QUARTET SPEAKS OUT ABOUT MAYOR ASSALY’S COMMENTS
The four councillors stated that the mayor “has continually interfered in the duties and responsibilities” of the CAO’s office since Dussault was appointed interim CAO and they cited the two reports by integrity commissioners John Saywell and Valerie M’Garry that stated the mayor “failed, on numerous occasions, to follow the Code of Conduct, which is a provincial requirement” in her dealings with the CAO’s office and other senior staff. “In a period of four months,” the council- lors stated, “five senior staff persons left, due in part, to the interference by Mrs. Assaly in their management operations.” The quartet noted that the integrity commission reports are available to the public on the municipal website. During her own recent press conference, the mayor announced her decision to halt her legal action against both the Town of Hawkesbury and former integrity commissio- ner John Saywell. The legal action concerned Saywell’s report that criticized the mayor’s past behaviour towards the CAO and other municipal staff and her interference in their work. A court ruling rejected the legal injunc- tion request. The four councillors noted that all legal cost related to the mayor’s actions, including the integrity commission investigations and the court injunction attempt, amount to more than $560,000 “and these costs continue to increase. They observed that the legal fees for the municipality equal more than five per cent property tax revenue for the budget “that could have been used and invested in roads, sidewalks or parks for the residents of the town.” The council quartet noted that all the complaints from staff that the integrity commissioners investigated concerned the mayor and not any of the six current councillors. i8F IBWF XJTIFE UP TVCNJU UP UIF residents of the Town of Hawkesbury the GBDUTPOMZu UIFRVBSUFUTUBUFEi8FXJTI to allow you, the taxpayers, to determine who is actually responsible for the ‘toxic working environment’ and incurring signi- ficant expenses that cannot be recovered or invested back into our community where we reside.” The quarter expressed hope that they and the rest of council can now “put this behind us” and work together as a team to finish council’s mandate before next year’s municipal election.
Quatre membres du conseil municipal de Hawkesbury veulent «remettre les pendules à l’heure» au sujet des récentes allégations de la maire Paula Assaly concernant «une atmosphère toxique» à l’hôtel de ville qui affecte les activités municipales. Les quatres sont: André Chamaillard (à gauche), Raymond Campbell, Robert Lefebvre, et Yves Paquette. —photo Gregg Chamberlain
GREGG CHAMBERLAIN gregg.chamberlain@eap.on.ca
a 10-point joint statement “to correct the record” for residents about remarks by Mayor Assaly during her noon-hour protest walk last month outside of town hall and also during her own recent press conference where she talked about a “toxic atmosphere” that exists at the municipal office. The four councillors question Assaly’s claim about how long things have been wrong at town hall. “Mrs. Assaly has mentioned that there is a ‘toxic working environment’ since 2014,” stated the four councillors, “but where is this
toxic environment and, if so, why has this been lasting so long? Is this ‘toxic working environment’ only at the Town Hall where Mrs. Assaly has her office?” The four councillors noted that Hawkes- bury had operated without a chief admi- nistration officer (CAO) and several other senior staff members as part of an economy measure. Key decisions that would have been handled by those senior staff were done through temporary special advisory committees. A 2018 human resources department report recommended council hire a full-time CAO for proper management of municipal business and also making the important contacts needed with senior-level govern- ments to help the town. That report resulted in the hiring of Daniel Gatien as the town’s OFX$"08IFO(BUJFOMBUFSTUFQQFEEPXO for health and personal reasons, all of the municipal department heads urged council to appoint an interim CAO until a new per- manent replacement was found. Dominique Dussault, then HR director, was appointed interim CAO and eight mon- ths later confirmed as the new permanent CAO for the town. All four councillors noted Dussault’s background includes a Master’s degree in business administration and 15 years experience in human resource manage- ment in both the public and private sectors.
A quartet of councillors want to “clear the air” about the “toxic atmosphere” that Mayor Paula Assaly alleges exists at Hawkesbury’s town hall. i8FSFIFSFUPTFUUIFSFDPSETUSBJHIU u said Councillor Robert Lefebvre, during a Monday morning press conference. Lefebvre and fellow councillors Yves Paquette, Raymond Campbell, and André Chamaillard met with local media to present
LE CONSEIL REFUSE DE SOUTENIR LA MANIFESTATION DU MAIRE
GREGG CHAMBERLAIN gregg.chamberlain@eap.on.ca
Le conseil municipal de Hawkesbury a pris ses distances avec la mairesse Paula Assaly au sujet de sa marche de protestation devant l’hôtel de ville. Le conseil a voté à 4 contre 3 une réso- lution refusant tout soutien à la mairesse Assaly pour ses actions et ses déclarations faites dans le cadre de sa marche de pro- testation quotidienne à l’heure du midi le mois dernier au sujet de ce qu’elle a décrit comme «l’atmosphère toxique» au bureau municipal pour le personnel et elle-même. «Attendu que le ou vers le 9 novembre 2021, la mairesse a manifesté devant l’hôtel de ville, indique la résolution, tout en faisant des commentaires relatifs à ce qu’elle juge être un climat de travail «toxique» dans la ville de Hawkesbury et en attribuant, du moins en partie, ce climat de travail « toxique « à un ou plusieurs employés de la ville de Hawkes- bury, et attendu que le conseil de la ville de Hawkesbury n’adopte pas ou n’appuie pas les actions ou les commentaires faits par la mairesse Assaly lors de ses événements, surtout en ce qui concerne les employés de la ville de Hawkesbury, par conséquent, le conseil de la ville de Hawkesbury adopte ce qui suit : les actions de la mairesse, ses commentaires et sa manifestation ne sont pas représentatifs de l’opinion du conseil de la ville de Hawkesbury. Ils ne sont pas
faits avec l’autorité du conseil. Le conseil s’excuse auprès de tous les employés de la ville pour les actions de la mairesse et demande que cette résolution soit partagée avec tous les employés de la ville.» Les conseillers Raymond Campbell, André Chamaillard, Robert Lefebvre et Yves Paquette ont voté pour la résolution. Le maire Assaly et le conseiller Lawrence Bogue ont voté contre. Le conseiller Antonios Tsourounakis s’est abstenu de voter. A majority of members of Hawkesbury council voted deny support for Mayor Paula Assaly’s protest walk last month in front of the municipal office. The resolution voted on states that the mayor’s protest was not sanctioned by council and that council also apologizes for statements made by the mayor blaming certain municipal employees for what she called the “ toxic atmosphere ” affecting staff at the municipal office. —file photo
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